Where is BBC One drama The A Word filmed?
Christopher Eccleston tells RadioTimes.com why the "dramatic backdrop" of the Lake District is so important to this story
It's time to take a trip back to the Lake District for The A Word. With rolling hills and huge expanses of water, this location serves as the perfect backdrop to a story set in a small Cumbrian community where Paul and Alison Hughes are raising their seven-year-old autistic son Joe.
But where exactly was it filmed?
Filming locations: Where is The A Word set?
This six-part drama series is set in a fictional Cumbrian town and was filmed in locations around the Lake District. That includes Keswick, Coniston, Thirlmere, Buttermere and Kendal.
Keswick is a market town in the Lake District National Park. It has stunning lake scenery and is popular with serious walkers and climbers, seeing as it lies in the shadow of England's fourth highest mountain – Skiddaw.
Go further south and you'll find Thirlmere, a reservoir occupying the site of a former natural lake with the Helvellyn Ridge on one side and plenty of fells on the other. To the east there's the town of Kendal in the valley of the River Kent where plenty of series two filming took place.
Further south you have Coniston, next to Coniston Water. This lakeside village helped to inspire Arthur Ransome's classic children's book Swallows and Amazons.
Buttermere also features in series two. This is a beautiful lake owned by the National Trust.
Why is the setting important to The A Word?
"It does a lot of things, the scenery, obviously," Christopher Eccleston told RadioTimes.com. "We've not just gone for the beauty, we've gone for the dramatic backdrop.
"And we're also saying, look, this isn't just an urban problem. This happens to families all over, wherever you live."
The former Doctor Who actor was born in Salford and was excited to film away from the usual locations.
"I think it's nice for a drama to be out of Manchester or Liverpool or London," he explained. "And also it gives the sense of isolation. There's a great deal of travelling Joe has to do and his parents have to do, which is true when you've got challenges with a child, you usually have to spend a lot of time in a car.
"And we've been welcomed up there by the Cumbrians and it gives us a sense of community, and a community you won't necessarily always see on screen."
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